Blog Post #1 "The Grandmother"

Question 1:

            I chose to read the French version of LRRH titled "The Grandmother”. This version caught my interest because there is a bzou, or werewolf, instead of an actual wolf. This interested me because it was a cool sounding word and I liked saying it as I read. Also this version’s content was different from any other LRRH story I had heard/read, which was interesting.

            It is easily seen that this version is making a comment on sexual immorality. This comes out as the girl is eating her grandmother’s flesh and drinking her blood a cat says, “For shame! The slut is eating her grandmother’s flesh and drinking her grandmother’s blood. The use of the word “slut” in this quote makes it easy to distinguish that sexuality is being commented on, to be more specific sex outside of marriage. In response to that I figure that as LRRH is cannibalizing her grandmother it is meant to represent loss of purity, perhaps even a willingness within herself for a loss of purity. For she cannot just be oblivious that she is eating human flesh, for the cat says it right to her face.

            Near the end of the story though it seems as if LRRH regains her common sense; as seen by the following quote:

            “Oh grandmother, what a big mouth you have!”

            “The better to eat you with, my child!”

            “Oh, grandmother, I have to do it outside!”           

            “Do it in the bed, my child!”

            “Oh no, grandmother, I really have to do it outside.”

            “All right, but don’t take too long.”

            The bzou tied a woolen thread to her foot and let her go. As soon as the little girl was outside she tied the end of the thread to a plum tree in the yard.

    

         It is as though she lets herself fall into this dangerous situation, until at the very end she realizes what is going on is not right, so she makes moves to get herself out of it. This theme can be applied to situations in life where people put themselves into situations that are sketchy to begin with, and just before something bad happens they start to use judgment to save themselves. I believe the moral that can be taken from this is that one should always pay attention to the situations we get ourselves into, for even though we may escape unscathed it is better to not put ourselves in that position in the first place.

Question 2:

            In this version there seems to be no obvious internal conflict going on, as LRRH is not really seen to be making too many judgments throughout the tale. There is a very obvious external conflict especially towards the end after LRRH escapes and the bzou chases after her:

"Not hearing anyone reply, he jumped out of bed and hurried after the little girl, who had escaped. He followed her, but he arrived at her home just as she went inside."

            The conflict is in the bzou’s desire to eat LRRH, while her opposition is to escape.  I feel as though more is gained by focusing on the metaphors and morals within this story, rather than the conflict. I do not feel there is very much meaning to be gained from this story’s conflict rather than to add entertainment. I feel the purpose of this tale is to teach through its metaphors.